4 studs (& 1 dud) from Cleveland Browns Week 6 win vs. 49ers

The Cleveland Browns came away with a stunner of a victory in Week 6 against the San Francisco 49ers. 49ers rookie kicker Jake Moody missed a field goal as time expired, which really rewarded the Cleveland Browns for an incredible Sunday coming off of their bye week. The Browns have now beaten what many believe to be the best team in the NFL.

Quarterback PJ Walker deserves kudos for the job he did stepping in after the Browns essentially burned a game before the bye week with rookie Dorian Thompson-Robinson in the starting lineup. Walker doesn't have a ton of experience, but he has a lot more experience than DTR and it showed against a really good team.

Let's break down some of the biggest studs in this game for the Browns, and there won't be many duds because this is an absolutely massive win for Cleveland and the vibes are positive.

Stud: Amari Cooper, WR

Amari Cooper had an outstanding game for the Cleveland Browns against the San Francisco 49ers, including a handful of jaw-dropping plays.

If you want to beat a team like the San Francisco 49ers with as good of a defense as they have, you absolutely need your best playmakers to come up with these kinds of plays. Amari Cooper is the definition of a pro and came up big for Cleveland in huge spots. With the Browns down 10-0 early, Cooper put them in position to score. On a key 3rd down late in the game, he makes a huge catch down the sideline to get them in scoring range.

He finished with 108 yards on four catches on the day and was arguably the biggest difference maker offensively for either team.

Stud: Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah, LB

How about JOK?

It was a very productive afternoon for the former second-round pick out of Notre Dame. He filled up the stat sheet to the tune of five tackles, three tackles for loss, one pass defense, two QB hits, and a sack.

And his game felt this productive. He was making plays all over the field and the 49ers probably felt at one point like the Browns had clones of no. 6 running around on the field.

This isn't the first time Owusu-Koramoah was a standout stud for the Browns, and it won't be the last. His skillset is the perfect fit in this defense. He's not the most physical off-ball linebacker in the game, but his speed and range are elite, so when the guys in front of him can hold the line of scrimmage, JOK is going to be able to fly around and be in on just about every single tackle.

You rarely see a play end without JOK in the camera frame flying toward the ball and that's exactly what made him such a beloved player coming out of Notre Dame and now in Cleveland.

This was one of the best games of his pro career thus far, and it's the kind of performance Browns fans would be happy to see repeated.

Stud: Cleveland Browns secondary

I don't think the dominance of the Cleveland Browns secondary can be overstated at this point. And you can't pick just one player to represent the group.

You looked at this group going into the 2023 season and felt like it could be one of the best in the NFL, and so far they're living up to those massive expectations. I don't know how teams are going to find an edge against this unit if they continue to stay healthy.

Look at the numbers they put up against the 49ers' offense, which is consistently one of the most productive in the NFL:

• 12 receptions
• 24 targets
• 124 yards
• 1 TD

The 49ers were only able to complete 50 percent of their pass attempts in this game.

Of the 124 yards, a huge chunk came on the 49ers' final drive of the game as Brock Purdy was able to find Brandon Aiyuk for a couple of big plays, or these numbers would have looked way worse (or better, depending on which side you're on).

There’s plenty of debate around whether it’s Purdy’s skills or the offensive system in San Fran driving their results, but either way the unit had looked nearly unstoppable through five games. Purdy was leading the NFL in passer rating at 123.1 and had just shredded the Dallas Cowboys defense to the tune of a 144.4 passer rating in Week 5.

The Browns stepped up and completely derailed the 49ers' hype train.

A huge shoutout is deserved for this Cleveland Browns secondary.

Dud: Elijah Moore, WR

You can't be too harsh on any Browns' offensive player in this particular game because of the tough opponent and because the unit was being led by a backup quarterback, but Elijah Moore continues to be a disappointment this season for the Browns.

After such a massive offseason, Moore was expected to come out and just absolutely dominate to start this season. The preseason made it look like Moore was right at Amari Cooper's heels as the top receiving threats in this offense. Moore was going to unlock a new element in the passing game.

He hasn't come close to living up to that hype.

Although he helped draw a couple of important flags late in the game, Moore finished this one with 27 total yards from scrimmage on 5 touches.

The Browns perhaps need to stop using Moore like he's a gimmick player and get him running more downfield routes. At some point, running horizontally all the time and getting horrible results in the yards per play or yards per touch requires a change in strategy.

Part of this is perhaps Moore's fault, but he's proven that he's a talented player and so part of his dud afternoon is also on the coaching staff. They need to find ways to unlock Moore to have a more dynamic passing attack.

Stud: Dalvin Tomlinson, DL

Browns fans were undoubtedly thrilled to see Dalvin Tomlinson come up huge in this particular matchup.

How do you beat the 49ers? Well, it starts with making them one-dimensional. San Francisco's offense is filtered through Christian McCaffrey, but they weren't able to get much going on the ground thanks to the dominance of Dalvin Tomlinson up front.

Tomlinson had just one tackle on the afternoon, but you can't judge a run-stuffing defensive tackle by the stats they put up. It was the impact he was making by getting leverage, pushing blockers back, and living in the backfield all game that really made him a stud for the day.

He was creating opportunities for others (a speedy linebacker like JOK isn't going to have many big games when the line in front of him is getting push backed) and dominating the line of scrimmage.

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